#like i am unable to distinguish strong feelings for someone. idk if it’s platonic or romantic or something else or both

[dreamscript]

monsta x hyunwoo - 4187

4187: for the number of messages it takes for him to realize he’s in love

normalverse. one wrong text sent the right way.

To put it bluntly, the first message is amistake. Really, you swear. You’d meant to send a message to Hyunbin,your coach, but stupid Messenger and the stupidnew features resulted in you accidentally selecting the wrong Hyun-guy: Hyunwoo.

You: Hello! Sorry, I am unable to make practicetomorrow due to family complications. Hope that’s okay.

Hyunwoo: Wow, I’m really sorry to hear that :( hope urfam is doing alright!

Hyunwoo: Wait

Hyunwoo: What practice

You blink atthe screen, confused, until you check the name and realize your mistake. Fuck.

And, to makematters worse:

Hyunwoo: Wait

Hyunwoo: Who are you o__o

Yeah, no, fuck–quickly,you unlock your phone, go into the app, copy-paste the message you sent to Hyunwooand send it to Hyunbin, and then go back to your “conversation” with Hyunwooand–and–succumb to embarrassment and an anxious awkwardness. Luckily, rightas you fall into the depths of morbid embarrassment, he at least has thedecency to remember you, sort of. You actually didn’t know you were friends onFacebook…until, well, now.

Hyunwoo: O wait I remmeber you! We were in the same mathclass last year

Hyunwoo: remember* fuck lmao

Flustered,still beyond embarrassed, you send him a blubbering, apologetic reply.

You: omg i’m so sorry! That was meant for my coachHyunBIN… and yeah haha last year we did trig in that freezing room together

Okay, maybe, hopefully,it didn’t come out sounding too bad. It’s all about keeping it cool. And casual.Because really, he could’ve said worse things; he at least sounded mildlyconcerned. Up until he actually well, registered the message.

Hyunwoo: oh lol i thought that was kinda strange. It’schill lmao (like our classroom bc who the fuck puts on ac in the winter i’mstill mad af about that) what sports do you do

Hyunwoo: also i actually hope your family is fine didn’tmean to sound shallow there i just saw “family complications” and yeah

He’ssurprisingly friendly. And not dismissive. Which is, well, peculiar, becauseyou’re pretty sure 99% of the time these situations usually just end up in ashort, dismissive conversation. And that’s that. But as far as you can tell,he’s actually trying to… get to know you. Or something. Whatever–an extrafriend isn’t going to hurt.

…he’s alsokinda cute.

But.

You: idk! It makes me mad

You: esp bc my friends and i sit on the radiators inthe mornings and sometimes its warm but most of the time its fucking freezing @admin why

You: and thank you!! Haha it’s actually fine. Familycomplications = my pet is having surgery and i need to be there lmao but mycoach gets kinda strict with excuses so yeah

Hyunwoo: ah i know that feel

//

The thousandthmessage is a meme sent from you to him involving student problems and medievalart pieces.

Okay, so maybeit isn’t really a message message, but still, sending memes to one another is asign of a deep friendship. It is, undoubtedly, a step forward from the whole“shit-wrong-person” debacle a while back.

Hyunwoodoesn’t respond immediately–it takes him some time to and you don’t mind–soyou decide to lounge around, contemplate turning on Netflix to watch the latestHouse of Cards. The last few episodes have been pure eviland savagery and almost seem a bittoo real.

Hyunwoo: lmao me

Hyunwoo: have you seen that one smosh post where theycompiled a bunch of snapchat art memes those were hilarious lemme find them

//

Message numbertwo-thousand-and-ninety-three is a three-paragraph rant sent from him to youregarding parents, school, and life in general. You’re not sure how exactly torespond, so you’re stuck in between letters and words, typing and retyping andjust trying not to say something bad on accident. A part of you is scared thatyou’ll destroy the trust between you two.

Finally, youmanage to send something out. It’s a mere sentence, but it’s okay becauseyou’re sending him message after message, everything broken down into smallbits and pieces as your thoughts come to you one by one. Soon enough, theentire screen is filled with positive messages from you, his negative oneshaving been pushed up.

He doesn’t sayanything particularly meaningful or memorable, and maybe you didn’t either, sinceexpressing strong, positive emotions over text has always been difficult. Butwhen you meet him at school his smiles are brighter, he sidles up to youcloser, and he opens heart up wider. And that’s how you could tell that changeswere happening.

//

“Yo dude, Hyunwoo,it’s your turn to judge,” Minhyuk says, shoving him on the shoulder. Startled,Hyunwoo drops his phone onto the carpet, thankful that they’re all seated onthe ground (rather than standing in the kitchen). “What’re you even looking atanyways?”

“He’s textingsomeone,” Hyungwon replies, sounding tired. “Anyways, go.”

“Who? Is it agirl? Ohmygosh what were you guys talkingabout?” Minhyuk suddenly seemsmore invested in Hyunwoo than in the card game.

“Uh,” Hyunwoosays. He awkwardly flips a card off the deck, faceup, then picks up his own setof seven cards. Rifles through them. Places one down. “Stuff.”

“What kind ofstuff?” Eyebrow wiggles. Hoseok snickers at something whileChangkyun and Kihyun look extremely uninterested, shuffling through their owncards.

“Nothing,really.”

“But you’vebeen on your phone ever since you came in here!”

And, beforeHyunwoo can even blink, Minhyuk’s snatched up his fallen phone, triumphantlyclutching it to his chest.

“Now you gottatell me! I’ve taken your phone hostage.”

“W-What?!”

“You like her,don’t you?”

//

He? Likes you?

Hyunwoo buriesinto his mattress, resting on his elbows with his phone clutched between hishands. What does it even mean to like someone? What’s the difference between aromantic versus a platonic crush? It’s so hard to distinguish at times. Onemoment, you think it’s romantic–but then the next, you may realize it’s muchbetter being friends with the person rather than being their partner…only for the reverse to happen later. And so the cycle goes.

You: yo wanna get some pizza later

Hyunwoo: idk

He’s too busythinking for pizza. Unfortunately.

You: …okay

You: dude r u okay? You’ve only been sending one wordanswers

You: is something wrong?

So. Now thekey is to pinpoint his own feelings. You? And him? It’s not something he hasn’tthought about before; rather, he just hasn’t really factored in the wholefeelings thing in. Imagining going out on a date with someone is an entirelydifferent concept from imagining being in an emotional contract ofsorts.

Hyunwoo sighs,groaning into his sheets.

Hyunwoo: actually

You: ?????!

Hyunwoo: I need to tell you something…

drabble game: numbers | closed